In the field of large transport vehicles large efforts are made to reduce energy consumption. One way of achieving this is by improving the effectiveness of the use of the cargo space.
Trucks and lorries are usually provided with a rectangular frame, and a number of solid panels attached to the rectangular frame and the rectangular frame is mounted on a chassis of the truck or lorry. Trailers are usually provided with a rectangular frame, and a number of solid panels attached to the rectangular frame. Such trailers are mounted on a chassis comprising suitable running gear, to allow connection of the trailer to a tractor unit for haulage purposes.
A standard type of conventional truck, lorry or trailer has a cargo room with floor space for four standard air cargo containers or pallets. These pallets or containers are also called unit load device (ULD). There are various types and sizes of these containers, but common for all the air cargo containers is that they are substantially lower than the available height of the cargo room of a standard type conventional truck, lorry or trailer and thus a large portion of the cargo space is not used when the truck, lorry or trailer is loaded with air cargo containers. Such air cargo containers are light weight constructions and may not be stacked directly on top of one another. Loaded air cargo containers are normally light in relation to the weight carrying capacity of trucks, lorries and trailers and thus having unused space above the containers in the cargo space of the truck, lorry or trailer is inefficient since it represents unused capacity.
A solution to this problem is to provide the cargo space with elevation platforms that are vertically moveable within the cargo space so that two or more containers or pallets can be transported above one another in the cargo space. Trucks, lorries and trailers with elevation platforms have been suggested in the past but their construction has been complicated and expensive.